The next big thing in childcare
With rising costs and continuing problems, what does the future hold for childcare? We examine
issues with the current system and potential alternatives for you and your family.
Childcare is a hot topic at the moment. With the cost of living rising ahead of wages, childcare is
becoming the biggest household cost for many and a huge problem for many families.
Nurseries are becoming unaffordable to many, with fees rising to nearly £600 per week for
two children – higher if you’re in London.
What about free childcare hours?
Although there is some help available from the Government in the form of tax-free childcare or
free hours, eligibility for these is limited. It depends on your income and the age of your child,
but for most there’s little help before your child turns three.
Free childcare hours are also only applicable for 38 weeks of the year unless you use less than
30 hours a week. It’s a hugely confusing and complicated system.
Why isn’t the childcare system working?
Despite the rising costs, many nurseries are finding it hard to survive. This is because
Government funding for those free spaces doesn’t actually cover the real cost of looking after
our children. A knock-on effect of that is that some nurseries and childminders won’t accept free
hours and others have to charge extra for food, nappies and other items.
As well as the cost, nursery hours are also fairly inflexible, with little room for late meetings, long
commutes and shift work. Which has led to people to realise that the current system is unfair
and sustainable.
Put simply, it isn’t working for the vast majority of families – so what’s next for childcare?
Bigger childcare settings, bigger ratios
As is already happening in many places, small local nurseries may become a thing of the past.
Settings will expand to drive down costs. That means bigger nurseries, more chains and more
big businesses taking over nursery childcare. The Government is also encouraging schools to
set up their own nurseries. It also increased the ratio of children-to-child carers from 1:4 to 1:5.
Which means one nursery worker is now responsible for looking after 5 children.
Childcare alternatives
As the costs of nursery fees soar some people are looking to change their work/life balance
completely. More people (especially women) are going freelance or working from home in order
to reduce the amount of childcare hours required.
And childcare is moving outside or closer to home too.
Forest schools are on the rise. Possibly because an outside setting has less overheads. But
also because it’s a wonderful way to teach children in those early years, although their hours
tend to be pretty limited.
Others are looking to provide childcare in the home, with nannies and au pairs. It’s a sensible
choice if you have more than one child requiring full time care. Plus it’s much more flexible to
your family’s working hours and individual needs.
What next for your childcare?
Whatever the future of childcare itself, you will have to carefully weigh-up the pros and cons of
each setting. But if you need more flexibility on hours than a nursery can provide, or if you’ve
got more than one young child then it might be worth considering a nanny.
You’ll get excellent childcare from a qualified child carer working only with your children, in your
home.
Get in touch and one of our Happy Nest team can explain the process.
Call free 0800 955 8868
email hello@happy-nest.co.uk
